Fluid flow in a fractured rock mass
The geological formations in the unsaturated zone underlying Yucca Mountain, on and adjacent to the Nevada Test Site, are being evaluated by the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations project. The formations are being considered as host media for a radioactive-waste repository. They are composed of tuffaceous materials, sometimes highly fractured, whose hydrologic properties must be evaluated to estimate the rate at which radionuclides could migrate to the accessible environment. Hydrologic flow models used for postclosure performance assessment of the prospective repository must take into account the potential for water movement in both the rock matrix and the fractures. Calculations using models that explicitly account for the effects of individual fractures are not feasible, because of the extremely large number of fractures contained in a site-scale problem and the difficulties in characterizing and modeling the fracture geometries. Comparisons of properties calculated by both approaches were found to yield qualitatively and quantitatively similar results.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States); Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 60022
- Report Number(s):
- NUREG/CP--0079; PNL-SA--13796; CONF-8505180--; ON: TI87002232
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Fluid flow in a fractured rock mass
Fracture and matrix hydrologic characteristics of tuffaceous materials from Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada